Justice News

Lansing-area resident Dr. Paul Kelly was sentenced to 18 months in prison today for his role in a $13.8 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade; Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG), Chicago Regional Office, made the announcement.

Kelly, 76, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen of the Eastern District of Michigan. In addition to his prison term, Dr. Kelly was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $582,912 in restitution.

Kelly pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2013, to one count of health care fraud. According to information contained in plea documents, beginning in or around January 2011 and continuing through approximately March 2011, Kelly signed home health care referrals for a home health agency called Moonlite Home Care Inc., located in Livonia, Mich. Kelly certified Medicare beneficiaries as homebound, a requirement for receiving home health care, when in fact, Kelly had never examined or met the beneficiaries, and they were not homebound. Medicare paid approximately $582,912 for fraudulent home health care claims submitted by Moonlite based on Kelly's referrals.

This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Catherine K. Dick of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.